Why Xenos are losing so badly - and how to fix it.

[AverageSpitter]

XENO ARE WINNING THE B BALL GAMES! RUNNER STRONK!

The fuck is B Ball? I get away from the game ONE fucking day and seems like i already missed something.

[KingPhilipIII]

Wait what? The devs finally gave xenos the power to hold the mysterious human egg?

[Toroic]

Stop being so pretentious,

I've played enough to know that just because crusher has lost some buffs doesn't mean you can't still be effective in the role. You just have to play smarter is all, instead of rampaging in recklessly.

I’ve probably put the most time and effort playing crusher of anyone who has played CM, and I can probably say that I’ve forgotten more crusher techniques and strategies than you know without any hyperbole.

I always played crusher as a “team anchor” role that prioritized protecting the team and downed xenos, it was never about rampaging in recklessly. That said, I’ve also beaten a predator 1v1 in the snow and when I was most active marine mains would recognize my crusher play.

So when I tell you that I feel more useful playing almost any other caste despite the huge amount more experience I have playing crusher, I want you to understand the significance.

So if I walk up slowly to the marine do you think he will pet my giant face and we can share some memorable moments together?

I really agree with Toroic about all this nonsense, especially about how the game isn't designed with xeno mains in mind. Apophis and the other staff are always talking about how the marines are the heroes of the server and the xenos are just the faceless horde to battle but you can't forget that your entire story hinges on this faceless horde and we're still a sizeable chunk of the playerbase so ignoring the needs of xeno mains is a one way ticket to disaster. Eventually it will get bad enough marine mains won't have fun fighting the xenos anymore and everyone loses.

Once upon a time people used to fight to NOT be the Queen. Can we go back to those days? Atleast I could reliably be the Queen in that time.

Xeno has never been convenient to play or reliable at roundstart, but the nerf to starting larva has made it much worse. Queen used to be much more risky to use in frontline combat, and the boiler + crusher combo was a solid backbone for defending against marine pushes.

Not only has queen been dramatically improved as a combat unit, she is effectively the only xeno that can initiate against a squad of marines in the tight quarters that generally favor xenos. It’s not just more appealing to combat queen early, it’s more necessary. Xenos also have a far slower earlygame.

I honestly don’t see things changing soon, and crusher being weak in defense and offense with such slow charging and zero utility means even buffing crushers won’t fix the underlying issues. (Crushers currently don’t have a role)

What I anticipate happening is skilled xeno players continue to bleed away from playing xeno and marines are going to feel t3s are fairly easy to kill as they’re generally going to be controlled by baldies. If marines get nerfs or xenos get buffed in the wrong way you’re then going to see huge swings the other way.

[caleeb101]

yeah so you get the starters + the monkey batch
usually if you miss the start you will always get in the monkey batch, sooner or later
then they just trickle, but by that point some of the living xenos have died, so you fight with them for open larva spots

i really don't like the instantaneousness of the larva popping up from pop jumps, i preferred just chill checking join xeno every few minutes and seeing all those mature larva
and if the queen detaches early then those ground larva build up
when she ovis later she gets many larvs at once, but usually they end up stuck as t1/2 bc queen doesn't have the luxury to stay ovi long from that point on

It's a struggle to even get in the monkey batch now. Starter xenos usually get cocky at the first encounter with Marines and usually some die off which is an issue cause they're the eldest.

[caleeb101]

What I anticipate happening is skilled xeno players continue to bleed away from playing xeno and marines are going to feel t3s are fairly easy to kill as they’re generally going to be controlled by baldies. If marines get nerfs or xenos get buffed in the wrong way you’re then going to see huge swings the other way.

This last part makes me extremely happy. When marines are overconfident/underestimate your ability, it's when you can do the most work.

[Recounted]

I say revert the starting larva since I feel like that nerf just hurt xeno mains more than previous nerfs on xenos combined lately. I was surprised when I got sent back to the lobby when I was trying to play xeno a few times since before I was always able to just join in on roundstart instantly.

[caleeb101]

Welp. With the new crusher buff it seems that all their problems have gone away. They're back to their old ways which has also pushed me back to marine side because I don't know the exact figures but it seems marines are starting to lose more.

[Wallrus17]

Well, im kinda new to the server (started playing 2-3 months ago) but from what i can tell from playing Xeno, and reading this forum is this:

1. Marines win a lot because of their higher pop and being able to rush xeno hives, so in response to this larvae burst times could be shortened, or have buffs/ Debuffs depending on if their in the hive, near xenos etc. Or having more larvae at round start would help.

2. Baldie queens is an issue and i think some sort of white list would be good, but could backfire leading to near to no queens and breaking the game if no white listed queens are on. (Maybe a LCDR sort of xeno role would fix this? idk).

3.Crusher seems like it needs a few buffs and tweaks, i see way less of them now then i used too, maybe a health buff but slower speed when not charging? im not really sure.

4. maybe xenos could have set in stone numbers, which you get given or you choose, like marine names, to make coordination and recondition of shit queens or xenos and generally better coordination.

In conclusion, none of my opinions are set in stone and im completely open to people correcting my opinions or writing them off as outright stupid, dont be afraid to have a go at me, but be nice, please <3. I play hunter mostly.

[ThePiachu]

Seeing more larva at round start, or say, letting smallhost incubate larva faster would be a boon. This would get more xenos playing in the first wave, which in turn would probably keep players in the game.

We could also balance xeno population vs marine population. Keep the ratio somewhat fixed - new xeno player joins, X marines can join. Make people wait to play marine if there aren't enough xenos playing. :P

[Vispain]

Two words

Crusher Squad

How about another two?

Boiler Squad

Combine for ultra death.

Ok. So boilers en masse work by just uber gas . So do Crushers now with their health buff, recent and old fire nerds, and armoires front.

[Butlerblock]

2 words

outdated thread

how about another two?

stop bumping

[KingPhilipIII]

2 words.

Much sass.

How about another two?

Very snippy.

Wow.

[Dolth]

2 words

Unga Dunga

How about another two?

Baldo dumbo.

Git gud.

[misto]

i havent been playing a lot lately. i think what xenos lack most is real leadership tools for the starred xeno leaders. the arrow still always points only to queen. if there were more arrows that pointed to xeno leaders, it could be a start. then you could easily find them and assist them. and bigger text in chat for them so they can try to give orders. that sort of thing.

[kroack]

A leader arrow would be interesting.

[OatzAndHoes]

Xeno larva roundstart numbers has a big part in it imo. I've noticed that over the past 2-3 months it's grown increasingly hard to roll xeno, getting to the point where its comparable with the difficulty of rolling spec/smartgunner.

Also as nice as they look, the new hunter sprites are a serious stealth nerf. It's way easier to be spotted with the new multi-tile sprites.